UPDATED: 10/16/2017 — see Change Log

OWNER: Koch Fertilizer Canada ULC (Koch Industries Inc)
PROJECT: Nitrogen fertilizer plant[memberful does_not_have_subscription=”1314-ammonia-industry-annual-subscription,1311-ammonia-industry-monthly-subscription,3338-ammonia-industry-30-day-subscription”]

EXISTING PLANT:
COST (reported): [none given]
JOB CREATION: 210 permanent — see Job Openings [LINK]
START-UP DATE (reported): 1967, expanded 2016

CAPACITY	USGS[1]	COMPANY[2]	PERMIT[3]	ADJUSTED[4]
Ammonia			[Membership required]	[Membership required]
Units: stpd, stpy, mtpd, mtpy = short/metric tons per day/year. [1] United States Geological Survey (USGS) Mineral Yearbook, Nitrogen gives capacity in metric tons per year, calculated as “engineering design capacity adjusted for 340 days per year of effective production capability,” rounded to three significant digits. Source: most recent year, Table 4: Domestic Producers of Ammonia, http://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/commodity/nitrogen/. [2] Koch does not publish capacity information. [3] [Membership required]. Sources: linked below. [4] [Membership required]. See Methodology.

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SUMMARY STATUS: Operational
In operation since 1967. Koch expanded its Brandon plant in Manitoba, Canada, with construction beginning in 2014 and start-up in Spring 2016.

EXISTING PLANT:
COST: [none given]
JOB CREATION: 210 permanent — see Job Openings [LINK]
START-UP DATE: 1967

EXPANSION:
COST: $30 million, initially
JOB CREATION: [none given] — see Job Openings [LINK]
START-UP DATE: 2016, 1st quarter
LIKELIHOOD: Done — see Methodology

CAPACITY	USGS[1]	COMPANY[2]	PERMIT[3]	ADJUSTED[4]
Ammonia		2016 EXPANSION: 90,000 mtpy		487,206 mtpy GROSS
Urea				232,956 mtpy
Units: stpd, stpy, mtpd, mtpy = short/metric tons per day/year. [1] United States Geological Survey (USGS) Mineral Yearbook, Nitrogen gives capacity in metric tons per year, calculated as “engineering design capacity adjusted for 340 days per year of effective production capability,” rounded to three significant digits. Source: most recent year, Table 4: Domestic Producers of Ammonia, http://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/commodity/nitrogen/. [2] Koch does not publish capacity information. [3] Permit documents for this site are not available online. Sources: linked below. [4] Adjusted Capacity is in metric tons per year assuming operations for 365 days per year; based on data from Agrium Fact Book 2016 [PDF], which assumes 340 days per year. See Methodology.

FEEDSTOCK: Natural gas
END PRODUCTS: Urea, UAN, Nitric Acid, Ammonium Nitrate Solution, Ammonium Polyphosphate, Ammonium Thiosulfate

RESEARCH NOTES:
Koch Industries does not publish any capacity data. According to Agrium’s Factbook 2016, the capacity at Brandon is 370,000 mtpy of ammonia and 217,000 mtpy of urea (which represents a downrating from 430,000 mtpy of ammonia and 280,000 mtpy of urea, given in the Factbook 2015).

Adjusted Capacity, given in the table above, starts with the 370,000 mtpy downrated capacity, adjusts it from 340 to 365 days of operation per year, and adds the 90,000 mtpy expansion.

The Brandon plant started up in 1967, built by J. R. Simplot Chemical Fertilizer Company, with initial capacities of 100,000 short tons per year (stpy) ammonia, 35,000 stpy urea, 100,000 stpy ammonium nitrate, 300,000 stpy ammonium phosphate, and 70,000 stpy nitric acid.

In 1997, the site underwent a $160 million expansion, replacing the two existing ammonia plants with one that had been dismantled and brought over from Sicily – increasing the site’s ammonia capacity from 600 stpd to 1,250 stpd, according to USGS. As a result, Simplot became self-sufficient in ammonia for its upgraded products, with excess capacity to sell.

In 2006, Simplot sold the plant to Koch Industries for an undisclosed amount, saying that “the global market is no longer favorable to a single-plant nitrogen operation.”

In 2012, Koch Industries announced that engineering company Black & Veatch would “help develop” projects across Koch’s North American plants, to increase capacity by “more than two million tons annually,” “through production enhancements and new capacity investments.”

In December 2013, Koch confirmed “an initial $30 million investment to increase ammonia production and operational efficiencies” at Brandon, which “provides the foundation for a series of further ammonia projects to increase capacity, which could total 90,000 additional [metric] tons annually.” Koch was “also considering a project that would increase urea production capacity,” but has not confirmed any details about the scale of that project.

Presumably, this “series” of projects leading to the full 90,000 additional tons would cost more than the “initial” $30 million. The initial schedule for the expansion would have seen the new capacity coming online in the fourth quarter of 2015, however, this was last reported to be expected on-stream in the Spring of 2016.

Although Koch never announced the completion of any expansion, I am assuming that the expansion at Brandon was completed in early 2016.

Fertilizer is shipped from the site by rail and truck.

Koch Industries Inc recently reorganized its corporate structure: Koch Fertilizer Canada ULC is now a subsidiary of Koch Fertilizer LLC, which is a subsidiary of Koch Ag & Energy Solutions LLC.[/memberful]

View larger map with all ammonia plants.

ADDRESS: 17 Street East, Brandon, Manitoba, R7A 7C9, Canada

WEBSITE: http://www.kochind.com/
WEBSITE: http://www.kochagenergy.com/
WEBSITE: http://www.kochfertilizer.com/

REGULATORY SOURCES:

• USGS: Minerals Yearbook, Nitrogen [RECENT / ARCHIVE]
• Permit Documents: Manitoba Public Registry, Environmental Approvals (search “Koch”) [LINK]

NEWS SOURCES:

• UNDATED: Economic Development Brandon: Koch Industries, fact sheet [PDF]
• UNDATED: Koch Industries, fact sheet: Brandon, MB [PDF]
• 12/19/2013: Koch Industries press release: Koch Fertilizer Canada to Increase Ammonia Production [LINK]
• 12/05/2013: Koch Industries press release: Koch Fertilizer Announces New Holding Company and Leadership Changes [LINK]
• 05/14/2012: Koch Industries press release: Koch Fertilizer to Develop Projects for Production Increase [LINK]
• 09/06/2006: Koch Industries press release: KOCH NITROGEN SUBSIDIARY COMPLETES CANADA ACQUISITION [PDF]
• 08/24/2006: The Western Producer, news story: Simplot sells fertilizer plant [LINK]
• 08/14/2006: Koch Industries press release: KOCH NITROGEN SUBSIDIARY TO BUY SIMPLOT CANADA LIMITED [PDF]